Health Professionals (close
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Why is LTPB Needed on Campus?
In Canada, most high school graduates pursue post-secondary education.
Among these young adult students:
- up to 40% smoke at least occasionally
- up to 19% of current smokers began
smoking regularly after arriving on campus - about 10% of post-secondary smokers had their first cigarette
after the age of 19 - up to 10% of non-smoking students intend to start smoking
- most over-estimate
how many of their peers smoke
In fact, more than 30% of young adults – on campus or not – smoke
cigarettes.
Sadly, nicotine is among the most addictive drugs known, and casual
smokers very often become life-long smokers despite their best intentions.
Young adult smokers on college/university campuses represent a sizable
and definable population with which to intervene around smoking. Furthermore,
because time spent in post-secondary education represents a transitional
period in the lives of young adults, chances of altering their smoking
behaviours may be enhanced. Finally, research suggests that, among
post-secondary smokers, most want to quit, few make repeated quit attempts,
and successful quitting is limited to a minority of students. Therefore,
appealing, accessible smoking cessation strategies that reach a wide
audience and assist smokers to quit are needed on post-secondary campuses.